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"Serious Games" Industry Gains Traction
schliz writes "So-called 'serious games' are gaining traction in military, business, education, and medical applications as Gen X and Y come into power, iTnews reports. While game developers acknowledge the risk of trivializing real-world issues (as in the Six Days in Fallujah controversy), intelligently designed 'serious games' could allow complex situations to be presented in a simple way. Cisco, for example, has an amusing online games arcade that prepares networking professionals for a variety of certifications."
But are these "serious games" fun to play? That seems to be the most overlooked part of educational games.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Apple Computer and Scholastic Inc. are pleased with the inroads "educational games" have been making in K-12 education, and argue that intelligently designed games can be both entertaining and educational, and usefully supplement the traditional curriculum, especially in terms of engagement.
(And seriously, a lot of those games were better than the kind of stuff in that Cisco game arcade.)
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
What the difference between a game and a simulator, Srsly what's the difference between the f-16 flight trainer that pilots train on and the fancy Racing simulator games you play at dave and busters? other then the cost.
Serious games have had their own conference (in D.C., where the government and charity funding sources are, of course) for several years now. Serious games are major -- and they're no longer just low-grade "edutainment." They're about things like teaching kids how to manage their diabetes; teaching firefighters how to handle hazardous materials; helping injury recovery and rehabilitation; training surgeons; teaching Third World executives how to manage a water system efficiently. And yes, they are fun.
Imagine a form of physical therapy that ISN'T both agonizingly painful and mind-bogglingly dull. Distraction works as well as painkillers; video games have been demonstrated to be efficacious.
I piss off bigots.
I've been playing the typing tutor edition of Canabalt recently (http://adamatomic.com/canabalt/edu/), and my typing is improving at an impressive rate.
Generally any break from the current favoured forms of education (hour-long lectures, hefty books with little demonstration of the subjects they describe) is ok by me.
Describing a generation of non-linear thinkers who are becoming decision makers in the workforce, Kilsby expects a new wave of serious games for training and education.
Oh it's still very linear, see "shortest path algorithm". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dijkstra's_algorithm
We just think more "efficiently" in our tunnel vision these days...
On another note, this has been going on for quite a while. Some of these systems have 360 degree screens (circular room)... but I've only heard that stuff as a rumor. Interesting read:
http://publicintelligence.net/the-u-s-militarys-video-game-training/
We should start a new Slashdot and return control to the geeks. It actually wouldn't be that hard to get some users to
Games have always had serious real world applications. Pitfall! for the Atari 2600 was used by the Boy Scouts of America to demonstrate survival tactics in the wild. Throughout the United States, Super Mario Bros. is still considered essential training for elite plumbers. In recent years, Call of Duty has saved the military millions of dollars in automated weapons costs by relying solely on long range knife throws.
Will the game be sophisticated enough to handle ... creative solutions?
I have it on very good authority (my eyes) that military has been in the "serious" game market for at least 5 years running. And I am not talking about stocking a Quake clone with Mujahideens. Given the ultimate linearity of games, due to limitations of human mind, and the current evolution-solution to this problem of network games, which merely masks the linearity problem by masking it into a carpet of singular plot threads. The military did a pretty good job of weaving together a complex mesh of simulators to give a feel of a real non linear battle space, where conditions may be introduced to make the life of any, or all players, seemingly completely non linear. Not sure how public this info is, but I saw a demo over a year ago and they still had some work to do, still beat out multi million titles in the feature department. As for the article, this public call, just seems like a lure for ideas from the public sector.
"It's a serious game you're playing."
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[...] intelligently designed 'serious games' could allow complex situations to be presented in a simple way.
The problem is that, eventually, you have to present complex situations in a complex way. As an introduction, simulations are a great way to provide a high-level view. They're also often good ways to hone skills. The danger -- as with television "science" programs -- is that people often walk away with them thinking they've learned a great deal from something with the informational content of an index card. Personally, I find the trend toward oversimplification alarming. The universe is a complex place, and if all of our problems were amenable to simple solutions, simpletons would have ushered in a utopian age long ago.
All that said, as part of a more complete educational system, this sort of thing could be quite useful.
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Like this game?
I i'z a serious develepir!! this i'z a SERIUS gaem!
UTF-8: There and Back Again
The games weren't intelligently designed...they evolved from earlier, simpler ape-like games. The real difficulty is in finding the so-called "missing link".
Simulators are not good enough. Fun is necessary.
I just finished a "serious game" for the Ford Motor Company. We dealt with an incredibly boring, dry topic. The key was to deeply embed all of that in a fun game. In order to do well in the game, you need to know the material we're trying to teach. On top of that, provide enough motivators for the player and purely-fun gameplay mechanics that aren't related to the subject matter and you have players that teach themselves without even realizing it.
"Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
Is XBill... try it and learn from it.
Can we finally stop acting like the games industry helping sell/train the military is a good or acceptable thing? It's truly shameful that the art of games is used to purposely aid real-world killing and it's time the community stands up to it.
Property is theft.
"Educational software" and "edutainment" got a bad smell in the early 90s thanks to a whole bunch of people jumping on the bandwagon and cranking out cheap and nasty products. A lot of it was thinly-disguised (or not disguised at all) drill and practice. Kids were turned off and parents got fed up.
We know perfectly well that software can educate, and the industry isn't trying to claim that this is new. After all, it goes back to the PLATO system in the 1970s. What IS new is ditching the tired old methods for something that really engages people.
Check out Seymour Papert on the subject (in 1998!):
http://www.papert.org/articles/Doeseasydoit.html
I piss off bigots.
I never understood the problem of Six Days in Fallujah. If done poorly, yeah it could be insulting. If done properly and well, it would just be the game version of Saving Private Ryan. There's no shortage of excellent war movies that properly respect the subject, no shortage of war movies that disrespect it, and no shortage of war movies that parody it. If movies are allowed to look at war from all angles, why not games?
What is this mental block that people get where they assume medium X can't appropriately handle a subject when medium Y has been doing it for years, decades, or centuries?
intelligently designed 'serious games' could allow complex situations to be presented in a simple way
Here go the "intelligent design" folks trying to dumb down the complexities of life again. We'll probably see a game where you have to "cause" genetic mutations with lighting bolts.
For simulation training in real-life, the military uses airsoft guns (soft BBs) so they soldiers actually shoot weapons at people instead of pretend shoot. It increases their reaction time in real life. They train in cityscapes to get used to not shooting civilians, too.
"Fake" training on 'gaming' simulators is probably just as good, a lot better than using real guns you can point but not fire.
What could not be fun about a fully realistic simulation of the inner workings of the reproductive system of the Liturgusidae?
It would be its own Rule 34 at least.
I love the potential in these games. If it were possible to teach people some deeper skills in any number of fields while they had fun doing it we might be able to really make leaps forward in productivity and efficiency.
I'm not a big conspiracy theory person by any means, but the idea brough to mind the Orson Scott Card novel "Ender's Game". The premise of the book includes the concept of using computer game simulations in the abstract to solicit solutions to complex problems from unwitting players. (Great book, btw.)
That being said, the concept could be used for good as easily as not. Imagine abstract games in fantasy or sci-fi garb soliciting solutions from the millions upon millions of game players worldwide to issues like hunger, education, finance.... The trick of course is producing hyper-accurate simulations that are fun to engage in, and a mechanism to catalog and evaluate the solutions offered.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
These guys have had The Urinal Game online for over a decade. And there are still a LOT of guys out there with no concept of Mens Room Etiquette.